Description

ISLINGTON

TQ3183NE UPPER STREET 635-1/59/879 (East side) 29/09/72 No.311 and attached railings (Formerly Listed as: UPPER STREET Congregational Chapel)

GV II

Former Islington Congregational Chapel and school, now a recording studio. 1888-9 by Bonella and Henry John Paull. Red brick laid in Flemish bond, with dressings of stone (now painted), rubbed brick and possibly stucco; clay-tiled roof. Two main storeys over basement. The front to Upper Street has a two-storey wing to the north, and then the main, symmetrical elevation of projecting gabled wing, side wings of one-window range, and projecting, single-storey porches. In the 'Queen Anne' style, and showing the influence of Richard Norman Shaw's Church of St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park. North wing has flat-arched entrance with architrave, storey band, elliptical-arched first-floor window with impost blocks and apron of scrolled profile, flanking pilasters, coving to eaves and pyramidal roof. The porches to the main front have stone segmental-arched entrances with pilasters and cornice, decorative wrought-iron gates and cresting to south porch. The projecting gabled part has two elliptical-arched openings to the basement with recessed windows of a different elliptical profile; four small round-arched windows above with a crenellated storey band over; and then, rising through the main line of the eaves into the gable, a large three-sided oriel with glazing in the tradition of Sparrowe's House, Ipswich, and Richard Norman Shaw, except that the glazing here and elsewhere in the building is of cast-iron, and made by the St Pancras Iron Work Company. Scrolled consoles mask the slope of the mansard roof; cornice over the oriel and date panel '1888' in the apex of the gable. Octagonal lantern on the gable ridge. The side bays have first-floor segmental-arched windows with aprons of decorative profile and windows set almost flush with the wall. The elevation to Gaskin Street has a seven-window range, the easternmost bay projecting as a porch with elliptical-arched entrance, pilasters, fanlight and shell-mould hood with scrolled brackets. The windows reproduce the sequence of Upper Street: elliptical-arched to basement, small round-arched above, and segmental-arched to first floor with aprons of decorative profile and flanked by pilasters. Coving to eaves; three blank cross-gables in the roof. Stack towards south-east corner. Area railings with finials in the style of c.1800. INTERIOR: : dog-leg staircase towards Upper Street with square newel posts, some balusters of cast-iron with palmette ornament, others of turned wood, moulded rail; this staircase now runs only from the basement, through the raised ground floor to first-floor level; on the Gaskin Street side, another staircase of similar design, rising from basement to gallery level. In the former chapel the apse and the gallery at that end survive, with cornice to the apse, the organ made by H.Speechly and Sons in a case in the style of c.1700, the balustrade and three tiers of seats. (Historians' file, English Heritage London Division).

Listing NGR: TQ3170783807

External Links

• 311 Upper Street at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q23891200

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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